World Environment Day

World Environment Day, sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program, has been held every year since, I think, 1972, in many different countries all over the world. This is the first time it has been hosted in the USA, and it was San Francisco that hosted a plethora of events surrounding the one day. The events were from June 1 through June 5, and included the Green Cities Expo. Mayors from cities around the world came to discuss what can be done to make our cities greener and more liveable. Check out the whole thing here. This is the Green Cities Expo link.

Was the president of the USA at this important event? Did he care to show how important the environment is to him and his administration? (I think he's said it is, in some campaign speech, didn't he? He couldn't have been lying, could he?) The first time this event has been held in the United States seems worth officially marking to me. Ummmm, no I don't think GWB was there. Al Gore was there, however, and gave a kickass speech which lasted an hour. Among other things he said this:

"We are witnessing a collision between our civilization and the earth, a transformation of the relationship between our species and the planet," Gore warned. "Is it only terrorists that we're worried about? Is that the only threat to the future that is worth organizing to respond to?"

Oh Al, if only you had campaigned with such passion.worldenvironmentday